


I'm Holding Out For A New Hope

by maelstromdeparture



Series: Spirit of the Sea [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Brotherhood, Execution, Home, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Magic, Mentioned TWICE Ensemble, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Pirates, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26611429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: Hyunjin has been alone his entire life. He had resigned himself to being executed for things he had no choice in. He had not been expecting the soldiers to bring in two pirates to the cell next to him. He really couldn't have predicted the two breaking him out and bringing him with them. He had always longed for somewhere to belong, somewhere to be home. He hadn't expected to find it on a pirate ship.
Series: Spirit of the Sea [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927246
Comments: 9
Kudos: 52





	I'm Holding Out For A New Hope

**Author's Note:**

> is this another pirate fic? so soon. yes. yes it is. 
> 
> is it edited? hahaha. you make me laugh. of course it's not edited. 
> 
> WARNINGS!!!!!!!!!!!  
> -someone drowns  
> -mention of rape  
> -mention of abuse  
> -murder
> 
> huh. the warnings were kind of short for this one. it's still piratey and dramatic i promise 
> 
> i think that's all the important stuff, oh and Hyunjin's a witch. to be clear i have made up my own magic system and hope i explained stuff well. (: awkward smiley of i'm not confident in this world building because i like actually attempted to explain multiple different magic in this chapter 
> 
> anyway enjoy! :)

It’s cold and dark, but the arms around him are safe and home and everything Hyunjin will never have. A soft voice whispering in the darkness is calming, quiet promises that Hyunjin will be okay. She presses her necklace into his hand and he wraps his fingers tightly around the cool stone and metal. He can hear footsteps sounding down the hallway, loud and clanging, echoing hauntingly. A song of death that would follow him the rest of his life. Gentle hands brush his hair behind his ear.

“Always believe in peace, Jinnie.” It’s whispered like it’s a secret. Like she’s giving him the meaning of life. “Always believe in peace. Always look for happiness. Help wherever you can. And whatever may happen, never let them take the sea from you. No matter what you see today, the sea is home. The sea is happiness and life. It is freedom. Never let them take freedom from you. Always remember I love you, baby.”

“Love you too, mama,” said Hyunjin. The door opened and she ushered him over to the woman in all black who took his hand, she held too tightly.

“Come along, witch, it’s time to meet your maker and pay for your sins,” said the man in white and blue. The figure of the woman walking out between the two guards was held with pride and elegance, despite the march of death she was on. The woman holding Hyunjin’s hand tugged him along.

“Come along,” she said, “it’s best you see what happens to those that fall to witchcraft. The wretched souls that make deals with the devil. Best to keep you from that path now.” Hyunjin stumbles trying to keep up with the woman in black pulling him along. Before long bright light pierces his vision and then they’re marching through town, the streets lined with screaming angry people. They’re led all the way to the dock and the woman forces him to watch as the guards bind his mother’s arms tightly behind her back and then tie stones to her ankles.

“You see, boy, normally witches burn, but it’s too much a risk with this one,” said the woman in black to Hyunjin, “for purity can save one from a fire, and you can never tell with the witches that heal people. Better to drop them in the sea.” Hyunjin’s hand tightened on the necklace in his hand. He shoved it into his pocket hoping the woman wouldn’t notice it and take it from him.

“You understand, boy? This is what happens to those that consort with the devil,” said the woman in black, “your mother has committed various crimes and dark acts. It wouldn’t be surprising if you were half devil yourself, a spawn of hell. Luckily for you, that can be beaten out of a child. You will be purified and grow to be a great man.” The guards led his mother to the edge of the dock where Hyunjin knew the water was deepest. His mother looked back over her shoulder and smiled at him and for the first time Hyunjin could see her face clearly. She didn’t seem afraid as the guards announced her crimes. She held her head high as the dropped her over the side into the water. Hyunjin didn’t scream, didn’t try to run to her, it was no use. But he cried nonetheless.

“Don’t cry, boy. Never shed tears over a witch,” said the woman in black, “come along.” She yanked his hand hard and pulled him off down the street. Despite it being the grave of the last of his family, the only person in the world he cared for, the wind pulled at his clothes, beckoning him to the ocean behind him. His mother’s words to him ringing in his ears.

“Don’t let them take the sea from you. Don’t let them take freedom.”

Heavy footsteps sound down the hallway. Metal on stone and the cold of the cell settles in Hyunjin’s bones, as the sounds that have always haunted his nightmares wake him from the latest one. The manacles around his wrists ground him to reality faster than anything else. That and the warm stone and metal of the only remnant of his mother hang around his neck. He pried his eyes open to make sure the guards weren’t coming for him. He wasn’t to burn for another week. Apparently, some admiral wanted to see if he would be helpful on a ship first. Not that Hyunjin would ever agree to use his magic for the people that killed his mother and caused his own life to be living hell ever since. Sure enough the guards aren’t coming for him, they open the cell next to him and shove in a pair of boys in black sashes and bandanas, their clothes smell of the ocean air and both of them have clearly spent most of their days in the sun, if the golden tan of their skin was anything to go by. Hyunjin wasn’t even sure when the last time he got to spend extended periods of time in the sun was. The orphanage had always forced him to remain in doors, reading religious texts and praying. Keeping him away from anything that might sway him to his roots. The shorter of the two stumbled slightly when the guards shoved them into the cells and the taller caught him quickly cussing the guards out angrily in a mixture of English and Spanish.

“ _Fucking twats,_ ” muttered the shorter, “ _we didn’t fight you. You don’t need to be so rough._ ”

“ _Pirates like you lot don’t deserve to be treated nice,_ ” said the guard sneering at them. “ _Don’t worry about supper. The next time you’ll see the light of day there’ll be a rope around your neck._ _It’s what you get for betraying your country._ ”

“ _Our countries betrayed us first,_ ” hissed the shorter.

“Aish, Jisung-ah, you’re going to make them madder. I’m not particularly keen on watching you take a beating tonight,” said the taller and Hyunjin couldn’t help but perk up slightly at the language. He knew that language. It was his mother’s language. The guard noticed him move and laughed. He yanked on the chain connected to the manacles on Hyunjin’s wrists, yanking him forward and Hyunjin bit back a sound of pain as he was pulled harshly against the bars of the door.

“ _What are you looking at freak? Even the pirates are better off than you, hell spawn. I’d take a hundred pirates over a single witch any day. And to think we did our damn best as a community to keep you on the right path. Blood will out eventually I suppose. Better get to thinking on taking that admiral’s offer when he comes. Personally I hope you don’t. I’d like to watch you burn,_ ” said the guard before shoving Hyunjin harshly back to the ground. His head rang as it hit the stone and he let himself lay limp. Usually if he didn’t move they wouldn’t go for another round, and sure enough the guards left soon after. Hyunjin still didn’t move until their footsteps were gone. Once they were he sat up and pressed his fingers against his head carefully, trying to check that he wasn’t bleeding. The pirates in the next cell over weren’t in manacles like Hyunjin was, apparently they were lower risk than he was. The shorter one was trying to bat the taller’s hands away as he tried to check that he wasn’t hurt.

“Hyung, stop. I’m fine,” he complained. “You’re worse than Channie, I swear.”

“You’re a disaster zone, Jisung-ah and so is Chan. Someone needs to be making sure everyone in this crew is alright,” said the taller rolling his eyes apparently deciding the shorter was okay. “Did you see the map room?”

“Yep,” said Jisung nodding. “Shouldn’t be hard to find what we need on the way out. No problem.” Ah, they were planning to get caught then. That’s interesting. Not many pirates were that gutsy in this port, though it was possible that they had never been here before and didn’t know much about the fort. What would a pirate crew need from the port here anyway? Mostly they just kept trade ship information, nothing actually of importance to pirates. It didn’t matter much in the end. It wasn’t like Hyunjin was going anywhere anytime soon. He carefully scooted so that his back was against the wall and he could lean his head against it. He was so tired. Of everything really, life, pain, coldness, and the dark. Maybe it wasn’t really worth fighting this hard to be alive if this was all life was.

“ _Hey, do you want to come with us?_ ” Hyunjin lifted his head off the wall and frowned looking at the cell next to him. Both the pirates had moved over to be crouched against the metal bars keeping him separated from them.

“ _Didn’t you hear him. I’m a witch,_ ” said Hyunjin. He wasn’t going to let some pirate make him in debt to them, make him use his magic to hurt people. He would rather burn in a week than allow someone to take what little freedom he had left.

“ _So?_ ” said Jisung. “ _Believe it or not, we might actually get you. He called you hell spawn?_ ” Hyunjin snorted.

“ _My mother was a witch,_ ” said Hyunjin nodding. “ _They believe I’m born from some sort of deal with a demon. My father was a fisherman not a demon._ ” Jisung shrugged.

“ _My parents sold me as a novelty fortune teller to a Spanish coloney. Bahia Dolorosa. They liked to call me Demon Child, Son of the Devil,_ ” said Jisung nodding. Fortune teller? He couldn’t be clairvoyant, those were extremely rare. Still, Hyunjin couldn’t help but be intrigued.

“ _I’m Jisung, this is Minho,_ ” said Jisung, “ _we’re pirates as I’m sure you heard. We don’t particularly like the crown or this town or people who try to force other people to do things they don’t want to or treat them like they aren’t people. We’re on a revenge mission, you’re welcome to come along. There’s always room for another._ ”

“ _What are you?_ ” asked Hyunjin.

“ _I’m a pirate,_ ” said Jisung nodding. Hyunjin rolled his eyes.

“What are you,” he restated in Korean. It had been years since he had spoken the language with someone. “What are you that Bahia Dolorosa called you Demon Child?” Minho looked visibly surprised about Hyunjin being Korean, Jisung did not. Maybe he was a fortune teller.

“Mark-hyung says I’m a Doom Prophet,” said Jisung shrugging. “I can see the future, but it’s messy and dark and the only things that are ever clear are deaths. Short term I can do. Sometimes I get really short term visions and I can tell what’s happening in a few minutes. When we met Minho-hyung I saw us burning the inn down and walking out with hyung with us. I can tell our crew is missing five members and we’ll find them eventually. Mostly it means I have nightmares that wake the entire ship with my screaming. Sometimes there are riddles, mostly things don’t make any coherent sense unless I’m making something, yarn or rope or anything. I need a focus point or I can’t tell what is what in a vision. I might not understand facing burning at the stake, but I get the whole held captive for things out of your control.” He shoved one of his wrists through the bars, there was a thick scar that ran all the way around it like a bracelet. About the same width as Hyunjin’s manacles. It must have been extremely tight and likely heated to quite a terrible heat to leave such a scar, because Hyunjin’s wouldn’t scar like that.

“Me too,” said Minho nodding. “Not for magic, but for existing. No one should be forced to do anything against their will. Especially not something within their own being, their own bodies, even magic.” He tugged his shirt up slightly so Hyunjin could see the numbers branded into his hip. Hyunjin’s eyes widened. These two had been through hell and yet they stood tall before him, happy, smiling, and with an air of freedom. Slaves were only branded on the hip instead of the wrist if they were to be used for pleasure. Whatever Minho had been through must have been truly horrendous. Hyunjin hoped that he wouldn’t have to go through something like that. It wasn’t unheard of in the fort for the guards to hand over pretty prisoners due for execution to be played with by guards or, for example, visiting admirals. Suddenly a life of piracy wasn’t sounding so bad. 

“How do you plan to take me with you?” asked Hyunjin indicating the manacles locked tightly around his wrists. Jisung smirked and lifted a finger, a large key hanging from it.

“We didn’t come here without a plan,” said Minho shrugging. “What do you say? Coming with us?”

“It can’t be worse than here,” said Hyunjin nodding and Jisung whooped slightly and hurried to the door to unlock the cell. Within minutes Hyunjin was standing outside his cell door rubbing his now free wrists.

“Anything you need before we head to the map room?” asked Jisung.

“I don’t have anything they could have confiscated,” said Hyunjin shaking his head.

“Alright then, let’s get going,” said Minho nodding. Jisung turned down the hall and led the way towards the right room. Strangely the halls were fairly empty of guards and soldiers.

“Where is everyone?” asked Hyunjin looking around.

“Any one not involved in whatever execution is happening in the square today is a little preoccupied attempting to find our crew mates,” said Minho nodding, tugging the long sleeves he wore down further so they hung slightly over his palms. Jisung’s own sleeves seemed to be pushed up and tied out of the way with strips of cloth wrapped around his forearms. Hyunjin wondered why Jisung didn’t use the cloth to cover his scars, maybe if the pirates turned out to not be as terrible as everyone else in the world had been thus far, he would have the opportunity to ask.

“How large is your crew?” asked Hyunjin, it would be better to know what he was dealing with now than later.

“Just the four of us, five with you,” said Minho, Jisung nodded along, paying attention to their conversation but seemingly laser focused on watching for threats as he navigated the hallways of the fort to the map room.

“That’s barely a crew,” said Hyunjin raising an eyebrow. A pirate crew that small was taking on this fort? For information? No wonder they were willing to take a witch on board, they were probably desperate for extra hands.

“The Levanter’s a small ship,” said Minho shaking his head. “They sailed it with the three of them just fine before they found me.”

The Levanter. Hyunjin had heard of the Levanter. How it was the fastest ship on the sea, no one ever heard it coming, you didn’t know she was there before her crew was already on board. They had a track record a mile long of successful raids. Arson seemed to be a favorite of theirs, Hyunjin had definitely heard them called pyromaniacs, as many buildings and ship would be left burning in their wake. People claimed the crew was half ghost, that the captain was the son of a sea god. They said he was among the most ruthless and terrifying captains sailing the seven seas right now. Joining the ranks of Captain Kim of the Epiphany, Captain GD of the Ego, and the names never referred to in full for fear of summoning the pirates to their docks, the captain of the Medusa, and Captain TY of the Whiplash. The last perhaps terrified Hyunjin the most. He had heard horrified whispers from the towns folk, that both the Medusa and the Whiplash had witches on board their ships, witches that had been kidnapped and forced to use their magic for the pirate captains, that the witch magic was how the Whiplash had so many crew members from the Navy. He hadn’t heard anything of the Levanter’s captain having a clairvoyant, a prophet of any kind, how had Jisung managed to keep completely out of all stories? Rumors abounded when it came to pirates, so it was very odd that he had never heard of the Levanter’s prophet, unless the captain really didn’t use his magic to benefit the crew. He hadn’t heard of witches aboard the Levanter, but the Levanter truly was a ghost story. No one had ever been able to name anyone on the crew or what the crew looked like, muchless the captain himself. Still they were very much real if the Navy’s hatred for them was anything to go by. For some reason the Levanter targeted Navy ships far more often than any others, though trade ships had their fair share of dealings with the Levanter. Hyunjin was half tempted to run down one of the other hallways and make a break for it, but he had already thrown his lot in with the pirates, and it was likely he would fare better as part of Jisung and Minho’s crew than he would even make it to the door of the fort on his own. 

“Found you?” asked Hyunjin. Minho raised an eyebrow at him. Did that mean the pirates had bought him at an auction? Oh fuck. Maybe making a run for it was a better option. But Minho had acted like the crew of the Levanter had saved him so maybe not.

“Shut up,” hissed Jisung quickly, stopping at a doorway. Voices and footsteps sounded down the hallway and then disappeared. Jisung nodded and moved them forward again. He opened a door and the three of them crowded inside.

“What are we looking for, Min?” asked Jisung immediately starting to open books.

“It was green and blue,” said Minho, “and a couple gold circles, I don’t remember how many.” Jisung nodded flipping through pages. Hyunjin leaned over to look at the book and realized Jisung was looking through maps sketched next to the name’s of ships and their captains. He was digging through the trade ships.

“Do you read English, Hyunjin?” asked Minho.

“No, but I can find a picture of a flag,” said Hyunjin. Jisung nodded and passed him another book, this one looked like it was Navy ships. Hyunjin flipped through pages as quickly as he could. They needed to be fast and despite him really wanting to know they didn’t have time to be answering his questions about why they were looking for a specific ship. 

“Found it,” said Jisung pointing at the page, “is this right, hyung?” Minho leaned over to look and nodded.

“Captain Bernard Hendricks of the Lady Marietta,” said Jisung nodding, “it’s a British trade ship. Let me find where the Navy keeps all their paperwork.” Hyunjin closed the book he was looking through as Jisung turned to the bookshelf to look for the right books.

“Why are you hunting a trade ship?” asked Hyunjin, “is he part of one of the big companies with a lot of goods?”

“No,” said Minho shaking his head. “We’re looking to kill Captain Bernard Hendricks in particular. It has nothing to do with the ship or the crew or the goods. Just him.” Ah. They had really meant revenge mission when they said it earlier. Not in the I’ll ruin your career way, in the you’re going to burn and rot in hell and I’ll send you there myself way.

“What’d he do?” asked Hyunjin. Minho’s hand fell to his hip subconsciously, but Hyunjin caught it. Oh.

“He’s in the slave trade business,” said Jisung confirming Hyunjin’s suspicions. Minho nodded, hand moving away from his hip.

“He’s one of the worst out there,” said Minho, “he’s an abductor and a murderer and we’re hunting him down to cleanse the sea of his misdeeds.” That sounded very poetic for something that essentially translated to I’m hunting the bastard that kidnapped me and treated me worse than an animal and I’m going to watch the light die from his eyes as I kill him with my own hands. Why the Captain of the Levanter was spending all this time hunting one specific trader down for one crew member was interesting. That was a strange way to run a pirate ship. Then again with all the stories circulating about the Levanter that had only popped up in the past couple years, the captain of the Levanter must be a strange person. Jisung let out a little noise of victory as he pulled a thick book out of the wall.

“This is it,” he said, “alright let’s go.” Minho yanked the door back open and started down the hallway leading the way out, Jisung pushed Hyunjin to follow and took up the rear. They probably didn’t want him running off on them, but it was nice to entertain the thought that the two were trying to keep him between them incase they ended up having to fight.

“Do you know how to fight?” asked Minho.

“More importantly do you have a name?” asked Jisung.

“Not really,” said Hyunjin, “I’m shit at combative magic of any kind and it’s not like I had a teacher. And I’m Hwang Hyunjin.”

“Alright, Hyunjin-ssi, if we find trouble which we shouldn’t because hyungs are good at keeping people distracted, stay between us,” said Jisung. Minho stopped briefly to grab pistols from a rack outside a door, must be the uniform room. He checked they were loaded and handed one to Hyunjin.

“Just incase, Hyunjinnie,” he said and Hyunjin took it hesitantly, hoping he wouldn’t have to use it. They made it almost all the way out of the fort before there was any incident. Apparently the rest of their crew really did have the guard busy tonight. But just as they saw the exit, as Hyunjin saw daylight for the first time in what felt like ages, a man in uniform rounded the corner. He had enough badges and splendor that he must be high ranked. Minho tensed immediately, ready for a fight. Hyunjin saw the face of the man and hatred he hadn’t known was in him spiked sharply through his entire body. He heard the gunshot and saw the man fall to the ground with a bullet through his head, but he didn’t remember planning to pull the trigger. As the man’s body hit the ground he couldn’t find it in himself to be sorry. There was no sense of regret of compassion, just pure satisfaction. Minho shrugged and kept going through the exit, unbothered. And Hyunjin stepped over the body of the man that he had watched kill his mother and for the first time in his life felt like maybe things were finally going right.

“You’re a crack shot for someone who can’t fight,” said Jisung following behind him.

“We need to run,” said Minho, “they’ll have heard a gunshot and come looking. It’s time to go.” Jisung nodded.

“They should be back at the ship when we get there,” he said. “Are you okay to run, Hyunjin?” He must look pretty beat up, the soldiers had enjoyed throwing him around when they were bored, but so had the entire town his entire life so it wasn’t anything new.

“Yes,” he said, “I can keep up.” Minho nodded and started down the street, easily dodging townspeople. Hyunjin hurried after him, Jisung falling into pace beside him, making sure to stay next to him. It didn’t take them long to get to the dock, but Hyunjin found himself breathing hard. Running through town wasn’t quite the same as taking a beating and he had never been much of a runner. Minho led them to the right ship and climbed up, Hyunjin followed with Jisung bringing up the rear. A pair of boys were leaned against the rail watching for them. They were both about the same height as Jisung was and Hyunjin felt tall for the first time in his life. He was used to everyone around him towering above him.

“Is he staying?” asked the shortest looking at him.

“Yes,” said Jisung nodding, already turning to pull the gang plank up as Minho ran over to untie one of the ropes.

“Let’s get out of this godforsaken town,” said the last pirate, one with messy curly hair that his black bandana did nothing to tame. His black sash for a belt was different than the others, but even that wasn’t flashy.

“Hoist anchor,” he called already moving to get up to the helm, “drop sails, full speed!” Hyunjin didn’t know what to do with himself as the crew of three moved around him following orders quickly. Jisung pressed the book into Hyunjin’s hands as he passed him, hurrying to the rigging to help get the sails unfurled. The shorter boy was already up in the ropes helping as Minho made sure the anchor didn’t fall back into the water. The ship lurched slightly as they pulled out of the bay and towards open ocean.

“Hyunjin, hold onto something,” called Minho. Hyunjin grabbed onto the rail quickly and the ship jerked forward at an impossible pace, sending him backwards onto his ass on the deck. He hissed slightly as it jarred his already bruised body. The sudden increase in speed didn’t seem to have effect any of the others in anyway, they must be used to it. It was certainly magic. There was no other possible way. It couldn’t be Jisung’s, so someone else on board had magic of some kind, though likely they were born of a magical being, not possessing magic like Jisung and Hyunjin. Once they were underway and the helm was secured in the direction they were heading, the crew gathered back around on the deck.

“You got the right book?” asked the captain.

“Yes,” said Jisung holding his hand out to Hyunjin who handed him the book. Jisung cracked it open and showed the captain.

“We’re looking for Captain Hendericks of the Lady Marietta,” said Jisung, “lots and lots of trade history. I’d guess he’s been at this for a while. Records of at least two towns he destroyed, and the Brits let him since he’s making them a shit ton of money and they weren’t their towns. No record of sea travels to Africa which is interesting.”

“That’s pretty odd,” agreed the captain frowning, “which means everything he does is off the records and recorded as something else completely. The Brits know, I’m sure, but still. Someone must be looking for that sort of thing in the British government so he’s hiding it. Too bad they won’t find him before we will. It’s got trade routes?”

“Yes,” said Jisung, “it narrows down where he is by a lot, it’ll make it easier to question other ships to find him.”

“Perfect, good job,” said the captain nodding. “Anyone hurt?”

“Hyunjin-ah is,” said Minho.

“No. No. I’m okay,” said Hyunjin quickly shaking his head.

“Speaking of Hyunjin-ah, where did you find him?” asked the captain looking at Minho.

“In the cell next to us,” said Minho nodding. “Scheduled for either execution or life as an admiral’s pet.”

“Can see why you’d throw your lot in with us,” said the shortest nodding. “I’m Changbin, you know anything about sailing or fighting?”

“No,” said Hyunjin shaking his head. He was going to have to make himself useful to this crew in anyway he could to get them to keep him. “But I know a fair bit about medicine and the stars.”

“That’s good. Everything we know about medicine is just experience,” said the captain nodding. “Changbin’s the best stitcher of the lot of us and even then it’s not pretty. I’m Bang Chan, welcome to the Levanter. Are you sure you don’t need medical attention? You look pretty roughed up and if you were scheduled for execution they weren’t going to be particularly friendly to you.”

“It’s just bruises,” said Hyunjin.

“Just bruises my ass,” said Minho shaking his head, “I watched your head bounce against stone.”

“Right, go with Minho and let him check that you’re really okay,” said Chan nodding. “He can get you settled in and everything too.”

“We aren’t going to ask what he was scheduled for execution for?” asked Changbin raising an eyebrow, “I mean he’s not a pirate and he’s not a fighter. Are you a thief?”

“No,” said Hyunjin.

“Would you like to learn?” asked Changbin eagerly.

“Sure,” said Hyunjin. It would only help him to learn as much as they were willing to teach him.

“What were you being executed for?” asked Chan cocking his head curiously. He didn’t seem overly concerned that he had let a convict on his ship without knowing what he was convicted for.

“Witchcraft,” said Hyunjin hesitantly. Chan nodded.

“Ah, that would do it, wouldn’t it?” he said, “you don’t have combative magic?”

“No, sir,” said Hyunjin quickly shaking his head. “But my healing is very good, I swear.”

“We’ll need to teach you to fight then,” said Chan nodding again, “and hyung is fine, Hyunjin-ah, or captain if you must.” Hyunjin nodded quickly.

“Okay, that’s out of the way, I really want to check your head,” said Minho grabbing Hyunjin’s elbow and tugging him along. Hyunjin let him and it took him a second to realize he must be leading him to the captain’s cabin. Minho got him set on the bed and started digging through chests in the room. The room was a haphazard mess of items that seemed organized and were all out of the way of anyone in the room, but there was no way everything in sight was the captain’s alone. Did he confiscate his crew’s belongings as punishment? It was probably better than flogging at least.

“Here, you should change,” said Minho handing him clean clothes. Clothes much nicer than anything he had ever owned before. Hyunjin changed quickly but Minho stopped him before he put the new shirt on. He was holding a jar of a funny smelling salve. Hyunjin didn’t recognize it, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work.

“This is for bruising, it’s effective I promise,” said Minho nodding smiling slightly bitterly, “want to do it yourself or can I?”

“You can,” said Hyunjin nodding. Minho climbed up onto the bed next to him and started carefully rubbing the salve into the bruises scattered across Hyunjin’s torso and arms before shifting behind him to get the ones on his back that were much more extensive. Hyunjin felt Minho trace a couple of the thin scar lines along his back.

“Hyunjin-ah, what are these?” he asked quietly.

“Whip scars,” said Hyunjin, “the ladies that ran the orphanage did their best to beat the devil blood out of me, to purify me. Guess it didn’t work. I’m still a witch.”

“For someone that only has healing magic you killed that soldier with no remorse quite easily,” said Minho conversationally, apparently having no questions about the treatment of witches. It was likely that he already understood how people with magic were often treated, probably from whatever Jisung’s story was.

“I’ve never killed anyone before that,” said Hyunjin.

“You don’t forget the first,” said Minho nodding, “it’s hard. Especially emotionally, but it was the right thing. He could have killed one of us.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” said Hyunjin shaking his head, “not that man.”

“Oh?” asked Minho fingers not stilling from where they were rubbing the salve into his back.

“I watched that man drown my mother,” said Hyunjin, “they made me watch as they drowned my mother for saving a child with her magic. His child. I’m glad I shot him. I’m glad he’s dead.”

“Sounds like he deserved it,” said Minho, “how old were you?”

“Six,” said Hyunjin, “the only memory I have of what my mother looked like was her face as they dropped her bound to stones over the side of the dock and into the ocean to drown.”

“That’s awful, Hyunjin-ah,” said Minho gently, “I’m sorry.” Hyunjin shrugged.

“Nothing to be done about it,” he said. “She made me promise not to hate the sea you know. Thought it was odd. She probably said it because it would be the only chance of escaping that town and she knew they were going to make me watch her drown in it. She said the sea is freedom.”

“It is,” said Minho, “she’s right. It is freedom. Or it’s supposed to be. Not everyone finds it, even among the pirates. But for us. For the Levanter, the sea is freedom, this is freedom.”

“How did you end up a pirate? One important enough for the captain to hunt down the man that abducted you?” asked Hyunjin hesitantly. Minho finished with Hyunjin’s back and moved off the bed to put the lid back on the jar as Hyunjin pulled the shirt on.

“You don’t have to tell me,” said Hyunjin. Minho shrugged and sat back on the bed, facing Hyunjin and leaning against the pillows like he owned them. Like this was his bed and not the captain’s. Maybe he was the captain’s lover. That would explain a lot.

“They took me from my home in Korea when I was really young. Probably nine or ten. I don’t remember much of my childhood at all or even most of the first few years a slave,” said Minho shaking his head. “I know my birthdate and year though so I know how old I am now. A lot of slaves can’t even say they remember their names. Especially the ones that end up like me.”

“You don’t remember your childhood or the first few years because your brain is trying to protect you from having to deal with the trauma by erasing it,” said Hyunjin nodding. “I don’t remember a lot of the stuff between when my mother died and when I was about fourteen.”

“Oh. Well, at least it has a real reason,” said Minho nodding. “That’s nice to know. You really do know medicine.” Hyunjin nodded.

“My mother was a healer. I have her talents,” said Hyunjin, “witches can’t all do the same things, we focus on certain kinds of magic we’re the best at. I can’t learn the kind of magic that tortures people because it’s directly opposite the kind of magic that comes natural to me.”

“That’s pretty cool,” said Minho nodding. “Well, I don’t remember much of the first few years and then a lot of the rest of it blurs together. When faced with people from my past I remember them, but if you asked me to describe every captain, crew, or master or customer that owned me and beat me and raped me, I couldn’t. I got bounced through a lot of different masters. More than most slaves, a lot of us that are pretty and not easy to break completely get sold for high prices from man to man quite a lot. I expect that most of the other slaves I’ve met I would never see again even if they are alive because they were like me and traded hands so many times that it’s truly impossible to hunt down every person that ever hurt me. However it happened I ended up owned by an inn keeper in a smaller port. The only whores in town were women so when he bought me, he could charge quite a high price for anyone looking for that from someone of the same sex. A lot of pirates, a lot of Navy sailors, I spent a lot of time at that inn. I was supposed to spend the rest of my life there. He was never going to sell me, I made him far too much money. Minho pushed the sleeve of his left wrist up and Hyunjin gasped seeing the brand. Lots of slave owners used a personal brand, but on someone like Minho who would have been and had been sold over and over and over, it was very unusual. Minho tugged his sleeve back down.

“Somehow or other, the Levanter docked in our port,” said Minho nodding. “Found our inn and stopped in for food and drink. Jisungie says that some British pirates were asking them questions, one of them tried to make a move on him, but that’s not unusual. Apparently, the captain mentioned that the inn keeper had me for the right price. Chan-hyung’s a curious kind of guy and they knew enough about how things work to be suspicious of that, so he asked, made some kind of big fuss about refusing to pay without seeing me first, claiming he didn’t believe it. He didn’t feed me hardly at all and kept me tied down to the bed so I was very very disoriented and out of it and in a shit ton of pain. So I’m really not sure how it happened but suddenly there was a pirate cutting me loose and Chan had the inn keeper’s hands tied and at gun point.”

“He didn’t kill him and take you right away?” asked Hyunjin. Minho smirked.

“That’s not exactly how we work,” he said, “I was in pretty bad shape and Chan-hyung knew he was taking me with them no matter what. And he’s very protective of his people. I’m sure you know he has a reputation for being ruthless and savagely violent?” Hyunjin nodded.

“There was a story about him holding a man down with his bare hands while his first mate branded a man’s eyes and mouth and then leaving him to die,” said Hyunjin quietly. Minho smirked.

“Well, it wasn’t the first mate, it was Changbin, and they left him bound to his own countertop and burnt his inn down around him,” said Minho. “Jisung’s the first mate and Jisung was a little busy holding me up to help brand my master with the same brand he used to own me.” Suddenly the horrifying story of an evil pirate wasn’t so scary or bad. Despite Hyunjin having only known Minho for a short time, he felt very similar to how he had felt stepping over the body of the man that had killed his mother.

“Guess that was true then,” said Hyunjin. “Do I need to be worried about not knowing how to sail?”

“No, we’ll teach you. I knew nothing about sailing, actually I’m pretty sure the only one that had prior sailing experience is Chan,” said Minho nodding. “Don’t worry about it. And you won’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with, just let us know. I spent the first few months helping climb the rigging and working with the sails before I mentioned that I’m terrified of heights and now I do other things.”

“I’m not going to be forced to use my magic?” asked Hyunjin.

“No,” said Minho shaking his head. “If you want to use your magic that’d be cool and all and I’m honestly very interested in how it all works. I don’t know anything about magic other than Jisung’s and Jisung’s is very vague. But you aren’t going to have to use it for anything if you don’t want to. I know it’s a hard concept to get at first, but you really are going to be welcomed and accepted here. The Levanter isn’t just a crew it’s a brotherhood. We’re each other’s family. You get the same treatment as all the rest of us.” Hope bloomed in Hyunjin’s chest for the first time in years. Maybe this would work out. Changbin appeared in the doorway then holding a steaming bowl.

“I bring food,” he announced. “You look like you’re starving, Hyunjin-ah.” He handed the bowl of food to Hyunjin immediately who looked at him surprised but didn’t refuse it and quickly started eating. There was no telling how long they would keep giving him food. He was used to being the first denied food when it was scarce and when it was abundant.

“Aish, Hyunjin-ah,” he said joining him and Minho on the bed, also acting as if it belonged to him. This was a very strange crew. “You’re so pale. You look sickly.” Hyunjin nodded and hummed in response.

“They didn’t allow me outside at all,” he explained. “Apparently it was too dangerous for me to connect to nature and potentially indulge in witchcraft.”

“You’re going to sunburn so bad,” said Minho nodding. “I burned incredibly bad the first few months I was here, my skin was used to not seeing the light of day.”

“We should have burn cream left,” said Changbin nodding. “Chan-hyung says Jisungie burned at first too, but they didn’t have their own ship at that point.”

“They didn’t?” asked Hyunjin.

“Jisung and Chan-hyung knew each other for awhile before they found me and you can’t man a ship with only two men,” said Changbin shaking his head. “Eat and we’ll see about showing you around a bit before bed.” Hyunjin nodded hurriedly and ate the food. Minho was the one that took the bowl from him while Changbin shooed him out of the room to go see the rest of the ship. By the time the night was fully upon them Changbin had finished showing him around and teaching him the basic terms he needed to know and Chan announced that they should turn in for the night and get some rest after the day’s excitement. Changbin had ushered Hyunjin back through the ship, but not before he saw Jisung hug Chan tightly and smile as he pinched his cheek fondly.

“Why are we going to the captain’s cabin?” asked Hyunjin hesitantly. Minho was already inside and tugging his boots off, setting them neatly by the door. Changbin in contrast kicked his boots off haphazardly the minute he walked through the door.

“Everyone sleeps in here,” said Changbin nodding. “You want the bed or the window bench? You’ll share either way.”

“I can sleep on the floor,” said Hyunjin quickly.

“Oh no,” said Jisung coming through the doorway, also peeling his boots off and tossing them aside without care. He started unstrapping his different weapons and setting them out of the way in a pile just as messy. Minho in contrast had carefully settled his all in a nice row out of the way. It was probably ingrained in Minho to keep things orderly and it just wasn’t in the other two.

“We aren’t going through the whole sleeping on the floor thing again,” said Jisung.

“What do you mean?” asked Hyunjin, “there’s not enough room for everyone to be comfortable. I don’t mind being on the floor.”

“There is enough room,” insisted Minho.

“And Minho-hyung spent a good month sleeping on the floor, telling us he slept better on the floor because he felt like he didn’t deserve to sleep on the bed without earning it,” said Changbin frowning.

“Exactly. We aren’t doing that shit again,” said Jisung nodding. “We learned from last time. I’m sleeping in the window bench, I always sleep there. Minho-hyung always sleeps on the bed. Who are you sleeping with, Hyunjin-ah?” Hyunjin looked at the window seat and then at the bed. The window seat was quite large and it did look quite comfortable and was full of pillows and blankets. But it wasn’t overly long and would not comfortably fit both Hyunjin and another grown adult even if that grown adult was a 171 cm tall pirate. The bed was bigger and would more comfortably fit multiple people and Hyunjin would be less of a bother there.

“Minho-ssi,” he said crouching down to take off his boots.

“ _Oi,_ am I not good enough?” complained Jisung. “I rescued your ungrateful ass.”

“Jisung, that bench is not going to comfortably fit my 179 cm self and literally anyone else even if it’s your 170 cm self,” said Hyunjin shaking his head.

“Hey! I’m 171!” complained Jisung.

“He’s also right,” said Minho nodding, “maybe with Changbin, but even then, probably not.”

“I’m not that much shorter than Jisung,” pointed out Changbin already moving over to join Jisung on the bench. Hyunjin awkwardly sat on the bed and Minho rolled his eyes and pulled him closer to him, wrapping an arm around him.

“Is this okay?” he asked and Hyunjin nodded. It was honestly the safest he had felt in a very long time. He felt a little like crying. No one had held him since his mother did the day she died.

“Go to sleep, Jisungie,” said Changbin sounding fond and pinching Jisung’s cheek. Jisung whined loudly at the treatment and batted Changbin’s hand away poking him harshly in the side and causing him to topple off the bench. That was interesting. Apparently, Chan was allowed to pinch Jisung’s cheeks but Changbin wasn’t. Hyunjin wondered where Minho fell in that category. Changbin rejoined Jisung on the bench as Chan appeared in the doorway.

“I heard a thump. Who fell?” he asked looking over the group.

“Changbin-hyung fell off the bench,” said Jisung nodding.

“You pushed me you little bugger,” complained Changbin.

“You deserved it,” said Jisung unapologetically.

“And you’re both older than six don’t involve me in your arguments unless there’s blood,” interrupted Chan shaking his head and undoing a dagger from Jisung’s leg that Jisung had forgotten to take off. He set it aside on the table and helped Changbin adjust the blanket.

“Go to sleep,” he said. “Sung, I’m waking you for next watch.”

“Aye, captain,” agreed Jisung around a yawn. Chan pinched his cheek again and Jisung let him as his eyes fluttered closed. The captain ruffled Changbin’s hair fondly as well before moving over to check in with the two of them.

“Check in, Minnie?” asked Chan sitting on the outside edge of the bed hand offered palm up to Minho who hooked his fingers around Chan’s without hesitation. He was less physically affectionate with Minho than he was with the other two and Hyunjin wondered if that was purposeful, if he had adjusted because Minho wasn’t as comfortable being touched as the others. He should ask so he could respect Minho’s boundaries but that could be done in the morning.

“I’m good. It wasn’t that bad. They didn’t even tie us up,” said Minho. “No panic attacks. I don’t feel off. It didn’t bring up any memories. I did talk to Hyunjinnie about how I ended up here though, so I might have a nightmare about the inn tonight.”

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked,” said Hyunjin immediately.

“I didn’t have to tell you,” said Minho, “I’m allowed to make my own decisions knowing it will give me nightmares. And it might not. That wasn’t your choice to make, don’t apologize for it.” Hyunjin wondered briefly how many times he had been told he was allowed to make his own decisions and who had told him.

“You’ll get me or wake someone if you need us?” asked Chan.

“Yes, hyung,” agreed Minho nodding and smiling slightly. “It’ll be fine don’t worry.” Chan nodded.

“Is this a hug night?” he asked. Minho was quiet a moment before nodding and sitting up to properly hug Chan.

“Night, Min,” he said softly, Hyunjin almost didn’t hear it. He looked at Hyunjin next and Hyunjin couldn’t help but be nervous about it.

“We won’t add you to the wake up schedule for a few weeks so you can adjust to being part of the crew, Hyunjin-ah, so don’t worry about it. And I’m swapping out with Sungie tonight and will sleep with Bin in the window. So you don’t have to worry about waking up to someone else in bed with you. It’s just Minho-yah tonight. I’ll be on the helm for awhile yet if you need anything and after that you’re welcome to talk to Jisung or wake me up. Please wake someone if you need anything at all. Is there anything else you need from me to help your first night be less stressful?”

“You don’t want to use me for my magic, right?” asked Hyunjin deciding to be forthright with his concerns.

“Hyunjinnie, I have enough of my own that I don’t need yours,” said Chan shaking his head, “I’m sure you noticed it. Besides that we’re very big on consent around here, no matter what that is. If you don’t consent to doing something we don’t expect you to do it. I’m not going to exploit your magic, that’s not who I am. And you don’t have to worry about the bad luck or curse connotations of having a witch on board. They’re bullshit. I’ve sailed with plenty of witches in crews in the past and it doesn’t make a difference. Besides, we’ve already got Jisung on board and his magic is rather dark. If anyone was going to be bad luck it’d be him.”

“Truth,” agreed Jisung, “and I’m not so don’t worry.”

“Okay, thank you for answering my question,” said Hyunjin nodding.

“Thanks for being up front about what you were expecting from us,” said Chan, “it’s easier for me to address concerns if they’re laid out for me to know what they are so I don’t have to guess.”

“Minho-hyung thought he was Chan-hyung’s slave for way too long,” said Changbin sounding tired.

“We learned our lesson the last time,” agreed Chan nodding and smiling at Minho who rolled his eyes but didn’t look annoyed in the slightest. “I didn’t know I needed to ask and make sure things were clear and now I do. If you need anything please get me or wake whoever you’re most comfortable with. Sleep well, Hyunjin-ah.” Hyunjin nodded and held still as Minho wrapped him back up in his arms to cuddle with him, only moving to help Chan adjust the blanket on the bed.

“Think we need extra blankets? It’s awfully cold still, but we’re heading south so it should get warmer,” said Chan as he stood up, moving to collect Jisung and Changbin’s boots and move them against the wall, adjusting Hyunjin’s so they were straight next to Minho’s and not messily against the wall. He acted like this was something he did every night.

“No, it’s warm enough,” said Changbin, even breathing was coming from next to him so Hyunjin figured Jisung had fallen asleep.

“Alright, goodnight everyone,” said Chan moving to the doorway.

“Goodnight,” called Changbin and Minho. Chan disappeared back towards the helm and Hyunjin realized that he didn’t hardly make a sound when he walked.

“Minho-ssi,” whispered Hyunjin.

“Hyung,” corrected Minho and Hyunjin smiled in the darkness. He hadn’t ever had a hyung before.

“Minho-hyung,” he repeated.

“Yes,” said Minho still quiet and adjusting slightly to brush Hyunjin’s hair out of his face. The only light in the room was from the moonlight, since Chan had turned off the gas lamp as he left, but Hyunjin could still see Minho’s sharp features clearly.

“Captain doesn’t make any noise,” whispered Hyunjin wanting to make sure he didn’t disturb Changbin and Jisung who were already asleep.

“He doesn’t,” said Minho in agreement, “scared the shit out of me at first. I was used to being able to hear my masters coming.”

“Why?” asked Hyunjin.

“Why was I used to listening for them?” asked Minho confused.

“No. Why doesn’t Captain make noise?” asked Hyunjin.

“Oh. It’s part of his magic,” said Minho, “something to do with being like the wind. Light on his feet and fast in motion, can be completely silent and a screaming hurricane in the blink of an eye.” Wind magic. That was odd. What on earth could he be related to that would have given him that. Hyunjin was beyond curious about the captain’s origins, but certainly wasn’t about to ask. And Minho didn’t seem to know.

“Do the others know what his magic is?” asked Hyunjin.

“Jisung does,” said Minho, “Changbin doesn’t. It doesn’t matter much to our daily lives. Jisung only knows because he’s known hyung the longest. Chan-hyung is an open book, but he doesn’t offer up his past. He’ll answer if you ask, but that doesn’t mean he’ll give you a straight answer if he’s not comfortable with that yet. He would tell us if we asked, but we don’t really want to. It doesn’t matter. We know what he can do and that we can and should always trust his instincts. Same as we trust that Jisung knows what he’s saying when he tells us we need to do something that sounds completely batshit insane.”

“Soothsayers, seers, oracles, and prophets always say shit that sounds crazy and never is,” agreed Hyunjin softly, “they’re very very rare though. I’d love to know how Jisung ended up here.”

“Ask him in the morning,” said Minho, “you need to sleep. You’ve had an exhausting day and I’m sure you didn’t get much sleep in that cell.” Minho was right and this was the first time since they had killed his mother that he actually felt safe so he relaxed into Minho’s side and closed his eyes. He was asleep in moments. 

The first couple days Hyunjin is determined to learn as much as he can about sailing as quickly as he can and follows Jisung and Minho around constantly, getting them to show him and teach him everything there is to do on the ship. By noon the first day however he finds himself throwing up over the side of the ship and then sat down in the captain’s room with Changbin who practically force feeds him tea that supposedly helps the nausea. He gets Changbin to show him how to make it, not wanting to be a burden, and then carries a mug of it around for the next few days trying to get used to the rocking. By the fourth day Hyunjin is a little more accustomed to working on the ship and feels comfortable up in the rigging with Jisung, but his palms are covered in rope burns and his chinks are sunburnt pink even as he begins to tan. Jisung looks more and more exhausted throughout the week and Hyunjin’s not sure why since he doesn’t seem to be doing anything more than anyone else is and everyone’s been fine, even Hyunjin feels like his sleep schedule has finally adjusted. With all the sleep, food, and lack of taking a beating every day, Hyunjin actually feels healthier than he can remember ever feeling before. Chan must notice and be concerned as well because Hyunjin notices that Chan pulls Jisung completely from the watch rotation schedule and Jisung doesn’t complain but continues to look more exhausted. Still he’s the one that notices when Hyunjin’s hands start to bleed from rope burn and drags him into the captain’s cabin to help Hyunjin bandage them.

“I can do it myself, Jisung,” said Hyunjin looking at the salve Jisung was holding.

“You could, but it’ll be easier and faster if I do it instead,” said Jisung nodding. “So I’m going to.” Hyunjin doesn’t have any disagreement to that so he let’s Jisung rub the salve into the ripped open skin of his palms, it stings but it’s supposed to so Hyunjin’s not concerned. Stinging means less risk of infection.

“You can’t heal yourself, can you?” asked Jisung.

“Oh, no,” said Hyunjin shaking his head. “I mean, my magic will help me stay alive if something really bad happens, but in general, I can’t no. Can I ask something personal?”

“Sure,” said Jisung nodding. “I’m a pretty open book, Hyunjin-ah.”

“How did a Doom Prophet, seer, or whatever you like to call yourself end up on board a pirate ship? Clairvoyent or clairsensitive people are very rare and avoid anywhere they could potentially end up part of the military like the plague,” said Hyunjin. “A pirate ship doesn’t seem ideal.”

“Rather pirate ships are pretty ideal,” said Jisung shaking his head. “There’s quite a few clairsensitive pirates, they just don’t advertise it. And I’m here because Chan-hyung is also slightly clairsensitive. He can feel fate on the wind or something. I’m not exactly sure how it works. But I know he followed the wind to Bahia Dolorosa and that he knew he was looking for me specifically. He saved me, you know? He’s saved all of us. That’s how any of us are here. My parents sold me to a rich lord in Bahia Dolorosa that made money off of me predicting people’s futures. They didn’t hardly feed me or really anything they needed too and I was pretty bad off when hyung found me.” He took a moment to screw the lid back on the jar and gather bandages.

“He saved Changbin-hyung too?” asked Hyunjin and Jisung nodded and sat back down. Hyunjin held a hand out for him to wrap and he got to work.

“Yes,” said Jisung nodding. “Hyung’s an orphan and was apprenticed to a tavern owner in Tortuga. We took him with us when we stole this ship from some British pirates. And I left Bahia Dolorosa with Chan-hyung because he was the only person that ever talked to me like a person and he didn’t hurt me. He picked the locks on my chains to get me free and we ran. Hopped from ship to ship until we got to Tortuga to find Changbin-hyung.” Jisung ran a finger along one of the scars on his wrists to indicate them to Hyunjin.

“That’s why I’ve got these you know? They’re from manacles. They liked to hold my wrists over open flames until the metal burned my skin if they thought I was being bad or they didn’t like what I had to say about the future or if my nightmares woke them up. My visions. They don’t make sense in any coherent form. Sometimes I’ll wake up with riddles, my nightmares are normally of futures none of us will live to see. My short term visions can be incredibly clear but only if they’re violent. But actively looking into the future? It’s muddled, I make no coherent sense, I can understand but can’t explain. I can’t untangle the future unless I’m making something with yarn or rope or something. They made me make yarn and then make things from that yarn until my fingers bled. I’m lucky to be here. They would have killed me eventually if I had stayed and it would have been very painful.”

“Our magic is pretty opposite isn’t it?” asked Hyunjin. “You really meant Doom Prophet when you said it.” Jisung snorted and nodded.

“Yeah I did and yeah it is,” he said. “I’m guessing you can’t feel it. But your magic reacts pretty violently against mine.”

“Oh,” said Hyunjin, “no. I had no idea.”

“Yeah it’s not great,” said Jisung shrugging. “It like amplifies mine too for some reason. I guess it feels defensive.”

“I’m sorry,” said Hyunjin. “I don’t know how to fix that.” Jisung shrugged and tied off the second bandage.

“There, all better,” he said, “take a break from the ropes for a bit. See if Changbin-hyung wants to teach you to steal or something. Or we could practice map reading.”

“Either sounds good,” said Hyunjin nodding. Jisung beams and pulls him to his feet to lead him off to learn something new and he doesn’t get the chance to ask any of his other questions.

By week two Hyunjin is feeling better about being on the ship and more confident in his abilities to help and Jisung and Changbin start teaching him to fight. Minho practices with them sometimes but mostly just sits back and watches, laughing, normally with Chan. Hyunjin gains more bruises and more weight and his skin tans more under the sun. He still ends up using some of the burn cream to help with the sunburns he keeps getting on his cheeks. He sleeps better than he ever has as well, he likes getting to cuddle up next to someone every night and he’s not nearly as frightened of Chan as he was. Watching the captain miss a step on the stairs up to the helm and fall all the way to the deck had certainly helped banish any fear he still had of the oldest. Jisung’s dark circles under his eyes were getting darker and bigger and Chan was staring at them concerned every morning. Jisung himself was more and more sluggish and prone to falling asleep standing up. By week three it all came to a head when the entire ship was roused in the dead of night before dawn to Jisung screaming bloody murder. Hyunjin hadn’t woken up so fast in his life, and he used to wake up pretty fast. Minho had jerked up right beside him almost at the same time, eyes wide and torn between terrified and concerned as he realized what was going on. Chan was already hurrying over to the bench to pull Jisung off and safely to the ground while Changbin came running from the helm to help. Jisung’s body jerked and shook violently as he continued to scream himself hoarse. His eyes snapped wide open and they flickered back and forth between all black and all red. It was terrifying.

“Hyung,” said Hyunjin reaching for Minho who met him halfway and patted his hand gently. Hyunjin had asked Minho on the second day about physical boundaries and had been told he could reach for him as long as he didn’t touch him before Minho reached back.

“Get his legs, Bin, quick,” ordered Chan and Changbin hurried to grab Jisung’s ankles and pin him to the cabin floor as Chan managed to get under his head so Jisung didn’t give himself a concussion as he shook.

“What’s happening? Is he okay?” asked Hyunjin.

“That’s a Nightmare,” said Minho softly and Hyunjin could hear the capitalization of the word. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was a Nightmare, the kind of dream that meant Jisung was seeing horrendous futures that he couldn’t do anything to stop or help with.

“They can’t wake him until it’s over,” said Minho shaking his head apparently anticipating his next question. “They aren’t normally bad enough that they have to hold him down.”

“This isn’t good is it?”

“No,” said Minho quietly. Jisung screamed until his voice really did go hoarse and his body arched violently, his eyes rolling back into his head before he collapsed to the ground completely limp. Changbin and Chan were both breathing hard from having to hold him down.

“This has to be fixed,” said Changbin.

“He said it was fine,” said Chan grimacing, “that it was just a downswing month, that the nightmares were going to go away soon.”

“They’re getting worse,” said Changbin, “and quickly. We have to do something.” Chan nodded and brushed Jisung’s hair off his forehead.

“Before he really gets hurt,” agreed Chan nodding. “He has to sleep on the bed from now on. I can’t have him falling out of the window.” Changbin nodded.

“I’ll share the window with Hyunjin,” he said. “Or sleep on the floor.”

“Why can’t you and I share the window, Bin?” asked Minho confused.

“I’m pretty sure the nightmares are from their magic interacting,” said Chan softly.

“Oh god. Oh fuck, I’m sorry,” said Hyunjin horror spiraling in his stomach. He had caused that. He had done that to his friend, to the closest thing he had ever had to a little brother. He had never hated himself more than he did in that moment and he had hated himself a lot growing up.

“It’s not your fault, Jin, it’s not something you can control. You didn’t know you were doing it,” said Chan shaking his head. “You’ve never had someone teach you about your magic, have you?”

“No,” said Hyunjin quietly. “I was eight when they killed my mother.”

“That’s where we start then,” said Chan nodding. “Try to get some sleep if you can. If not stay up to make sure Sung’s alright. I’ve got to get up to the helm.”

“I’ll stay with Ji,” said Changbin quickly. He carefully scooped the younger boy up into his arms and settled him on the bed. Minho helped him get him laid down comfortably. If it wasn’t for the fact he was breathing Hyunjin would be worried he was dead. Chan grabbed his boots and his sword and headed up to the helm. Hyunjin waited a few minutes as Minho slowly fell back asleep before finally coming to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. He carefully crawled out of the bed and headed out the door. Changbin watched him leave but didn’t ask where he was going. The wood of the deck was cold under his bare feet and the moon and stars above him was more than enough light to bathe his captain in a silvery glow where he stood at the rail facing the sea they were leaving behind. Chan didn’t turn to look at him as he climbed up the stairs or as he joined him at the rail. The wind rustled his hair and Hyunjin was reminded that it was getting long and he either would need to figure out how to cut it or figure out how to tie it out of the way.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Jinnie, it is not your fault,” said Chan firmly but still gently. That was his no nonsense older brother voice. The one that didn’t allow refuting.

“Can’t see how it’s not,” said Hyunjin. Chan opened his eyes and they looked almost silver in the light of the moon as he looked at Hyunjin.

“Something that you can’t control is not something you should ever apologize for,” said Chan shaking his head, “it’s not your fault that your magic is hurting Jisung. Rather I’d say it’s the fault of whoever executed your mother and managed to make it so you had no one to teach you about your magic. You don’t know that it doesn’t stay contained to you when you sleep. It doesn’t really throughout the day either, but especially when you sleep. It is not your fault. I am going to fix this. I should have fixed this before it got this out of control.”

“How?” asked Hyunjin. “I’ll leave of course. I’m not asking to stay. Jisung’s your first brother, your youngest. I’m just a witch that tagged along.” Chan frowned.

“You’re my brother too, Hyunjin,” he said firmly. “No one on this ship matters more than anyone else does. I’m not kicking you out of the crew. You’d have to do something really truly bad and do it on purpose to get kicked off the Levanter.”

“Then how are you fixing this?” asked Hyunjin shaking his head. “That’s the easiest solution.”

“We’re getting you a teacher,” said Chan. That was insane. It would be very difficult to find a witch that could teach him and even more difficult to get one to agree.

“You’d have better luck finding the Road to El Dorado,” said Hyunjin rolling his eyes. “Better luck sailing through the Devil’s Eye, hyung.”

“On the contrary. I know exactly who can and will teach you. It’s just a matter of finding them,” said Chan closing his eyes again and turning back to face the wind. It seemed to swirl around the two of them playfully, like fingers rustling Hyunjin’s hair.

“How are you going to find them?” asked Hyunjin raising an eyebrow. Were they also on a ship? That would be extremely difficult.

“I’m finding them right now,” said Chan. Oh. Magic. Why couldn’t Hyunjin feel it working? That was so strange.

“How exactly?” asked Hyunjin hesitantly, worried him asking questions would annoy Chan and distract him from his search. Chan didn’t seem bothered though he didn’t turn to face Hyunjin again.

“I can manipulate the wind as I need it,” said Chan, “that’s why we move so quick. The ocean too to a very small extent. My magic works best in a storm though. Electrical charge, high wind speeds, I can make it rain if I’m extremely upset, otherwise I can normally only do a small drizzle. But what it is most useful for is this. The wind speaks to me and the wind sees all. Everything and everyone, nothing hides from the wind. I can ask it to search for me to guide me and it will. I have lived my entire life at the will of the wind as it guides me from ship to ship, port to port, it took me to each of you and now it will take us to a witch to teach you.”

“What are you?” asked Hyunjin. “Why can’t I feel you using your magic?”

“Because it’s not like yours of Jisung’s,” said Chan. “You both use inside magic, core magic, that’s what most witches and the like have. What I have is much more akin to a siren’s song for example.” So Hyunjin had been right with his first guess. Chan was part magical being.

“What are you?” he found himself repeating. Chan shrugged.

“My mother was Australian and fully human. My father was fully Korean, but he was also a Storm Sprite,” said Chan. A Korean storm being. Hyunjin felt his mouth falling open.

“Your father was a Storm Dragon,” he said. Dragons were strong, some of the strongest magic on earth. No wonder Chan knew what he was doing and was unconcerned about having a witch and a prophet on board his ship. Chan nodded.

“Mother called him a Storm Sprite, because that’s what the Europeans would have called him,” said Chan nodding. “But yes. My father was a Storm Dragon. Specifically tropical storms. The ocean is in my blood. It’s why I have sailed my entire life. I belong out here.” No wonder Chan didn’t make it obvious what his magic was and why Minho and Changbin didn’t want to know. They had probably guessed and decided it was better to not have that knowledge. Dragon children were incredibly rare as dragons themselves were very rare and not often sociable among humans though often they were benevolent. It was likely for the best as Dragon Children were often very strong magically. In the way that entire ships would move at silent, unnatural speeds, resulting in, for example, ghost stories about ships manned by four men. Chan opened his eyes and turned to the helm quickly, spinning it and turning the ship around. Hyunjin stumbled to keep his balance and caught the rail.

“Found them,” said Chan nodding. “Drop the sails for me?” Hyunjin hurried down the stairs and across the deck and up into the rigging. He had spent so much time up in the rigging helping and learning in the past three weeks that he didn’t have any trouble dropping the sails on his own with minimal light. The wind caught the sails and Hyunjin braced himself against the mast with a hand to keep his balance as the ship lurched forward, sending them flying across the ocean. He closed his eyes and felt the wind beat against his back. It didn’t hurt like it probably ought to, but felt like an embrace from an old friend. He climbed back down and headed back up to the helm to keep Chan company as the captain guided their small ship through the ocean. Minho stumbled out onto deck about when dawn broke and informed them that Jisung was awake and coherent but too tired to even lift his limbs and that Changbin was staying with him. Chan nodded and told them that they’d be at their destination by night fall. Minho nodded and went to find food. Hyunjin stayed on deck all day to help Chan if he needed it while Minho decided it was his job to be the go between for the two in the captain’s cabin and that he would deliver food for everyone throughout the day since Chan was apparently not moving from the helm. Jisung had another Nightmare around mid afternoon when he fell asleep from exhaustion and Minho and Changbin had held him down on the bed so he wouldn’t hurt himself. It hadn’t lasted as long as the first one since Hyunjin wasn’t in the room with him and hadn’t been since the early morning. But he and Chan could hear Jisung shrieking as if he was being tortured all the way up at the helm. Chan’s focus on the horizon hardened at that point and the Levanter moved at a speed Hyunjin didn’t know it could. By the time the sun was setting on the horizon there was a ship in view. It was larger than theirs and flying a brightly colored flag.

“Hyung?” asked Hyunjin concerned and Chan slowed the Levanter down as they neared the ship.

“Run the colors up, Jin,” said Chan and Hyunjin hurried across the deck to run up their flag. The other ship slowed in the water and dropped anchor.

“Drop anchor!” yelled Chan and Hyunjin ran to start dropping the anchor, Minho appeared from the cabin to help him and they found themselves side by side with the other ship. The side of the ship read Shadow in fancy lettering. The captain was dressed in a fancy red coat and a large hat. Hyunjin couldn’t help but be surprised when the captain pulled their hat off and a long braid tumbled down. A woman pirate captain. There weren’t many of those.

“Channie!” she called, “what’s got you in a hurry? In trouble?” Chan moved towards the rail so he was closer to her.

“I need a witch,” he called. “Can Sana-ah help out?”

“Of course,” called the captain. “Mina-yah! Tell Sana-yah that Chan-ah needs her.” One of the other crew members nodded and ran off deck and Hyunjin realized that it wasn’t that the captain was a women but that the entire crew was all female. Oh shit. That meant that was Captain Park Jihyo. She was not a captain to be crossed though rumored to be a more merciful pirate than others, to people that deserved it at least.

“Set up the gang plank,” called Chan and Hyunjin moved to help Minho set it up so their two ships were connected. Captain Park walked over, her first mate following and Hyunjin and Minho both stepped out of their way quickly so they could head up to the helm by Chan.

“You’ve got new ones,” said Captain Park glancing to both of them. Chan nodded.

“That’s Minho-yah and Hyunjin-ah,” said Chan nodding. “Hyunjin-ah is why I need Sana, noona.” Chan called an infamous pirate captain noona. Hyunjin had questions about his past he didn’t think he wanted answered.

“Oh? Hyunjin-ssi, are you a witch?” she called looking to him and Hyunjin nodded quickly, worried about why it would matter to her, worried that Chan’s solution was to get another pirate crew to take Hyunjin off his hands. But that was ridiculous, Chan had said he was finding him a teacher, had told him he wouldn’t kick him off the Levanter. He’d called Hyunjin his brother. Hyunjin would have to trust him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied quickly. “Chan-hyung said someone could teach me.”

“Ah, an untrained witch,” said Jihyo nodding. “I don’t see any damage anywhere. Why does he need training?” Chan grimaced.

“Hyunjin-ah’s core magic is healing and nature magic,” he explained, “Jisungie’s is apocalyptic.”

“Jisung? Jisung’s not a witch,” said Jihyo arching an eyebrow.

“No he’s not,” agreed Chan, “but either way their magic is reacting negatively to each other and it has hurt Jisung pretty severely. Hyunjin needs to learn to keep his magic in check and how to interact with Jisung’s.”

“You’d rather not tell us what Jisung is, so I’m assuming he would rather it not be public knowledge he has magic. He knows it’s nothing to be ashamed of, right?” asked Jihyo as two other girls hurried over to their ship over the gang plank.

“He does,” said Chan nodding. “He’s just not open about it with people that aren’t crew.” Jihyo nodded.

“Fair enough. You’ll have your secrets and we’ll have ours,” said Jihyo. “Speaking of. I do have information you might like. Care to come to our map room?”

“Sure, noona,” said Chan nodding. “Minho-yah, tell Binnie I’m with Jihyo-noona on the Shadow?” Minho nodded and hurried back towards the cabin.

“Hi, Channie,” greeted the other two girls enthusiastically both hugging him tightly. Chan exchanged greetings quickly and then introduced them to Hyunjin.

“Sana, Hyunjin-ah here needs to learn how to keep his magic in check and how to let it interact with opposite magic in a way that won’t hurt either of them and will allow them to work together and coexist,” said Jihyo and Sana’s face lit up.

“Oh! I’ve always wanted a student! You’re a healing witch, right? And a green witch if I’m right but neither are trained hardly at all,” she said. “This will be fun. Go on, catch up, we’ll be at it for a bit probably.” She took Hyunjin’s hand and drug him over to the very front of the ship and got him sitting down as the others headed over to the Shadow’s deck. The deck stayed empty and peaceful as Sana spent the next few hours teaching Hyunjin more about his magic than he had ever expected to know. She had brought herbs, rocks, and books over in her satchel and gave them to him to keep and she hugged Hyunjin excitedly when he not only managed to keep his own magic in check but interact with hers and then with Jisung’s. He could feel how badly Jisung’s magic was existing off his body’s energy at the moment and how exhausted Jisung truly was. He would be able to fix that now.

“Noona,” said Hyunjin the word feeling foreign in his mouth but he was happy to have someone to call noona, someone like him. “I don’t understand why Chan-hyung would go out of his way to find me a teacher. It would have been easier to drop me off at a port.” Sana laughed.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “Channie doesn’t abandon people. Even the ones he helps find their own family and crew, he doesn’t abandon them. The Levanter has more allies than any other ship in the ocean right now, because Chan-hyung adopts strays and finds them homes. He’s why I have the Shadow, why I have somewhere to be happy and free. The Whiplash loves him and if the Whiplash loves him so does the rest of SM. Those crews certainly have their issues with each other but they’ll always set aside their own problems to band together at the end of the day. Chan doesn’t abandon people. He would never leave you behind. The minute you stepped on this ship you were his and he would move heaven and earth for his people. Finding you a teacher is nothing. It’s not even the beginning of what Chan would be willing to go through for you. These are your people, Hyunjin. This is your home. And this crew, they’re your brothers for as long as you will have them. The Levanter’s young and small, but they’re some of the most loyal boys in the world. Most captain’s rule their crews through fear and loyalty, but the Levanter’s bonds are love. Love doesn’t break when all other bonds will. They will never abandon you, they will never leave you behind. You belong here.” Hyunjin rubbed at his eyes quickly. He was not going to cry in front of his tough pirate witch noona. Absolutely not, it wasn’t allowed.

“Thanks, noona,” he mumbled and Sana laughed and hugged him tightly. She ruffled his hair fondly.

“I like your hair, it’s pretty, Jin,” she said, “but I’m guessing it’s in the way.” Hyunjin nodded and she tugged the black bandana he had tied around his arm when Chan gave it to him free of it’s knot. She folded it a couple times and then tied the knot again and tugged it onto his head. She fiddled with his hair a moment and then nodded.

“There,” she said, “much more functional as a hairband and it looks good.” Hyunjin chuckled. Chan headed back over to the ship at that moment and Sana stood up, Hyunjin following.

“We’re done, Chan-ah,” she called. “Come visit more. We miss seeing you.” Chan laughed and let her hug him.

“We’ll try. We’re on a mission, right now though, noona,” he said. “Jihyo-noona will want you back.” Sana nodded.

“Tell the others I said hello,” she said before heading across to her own ship. Hyunjin helped Chan pull the gang plank back and the Shadow pulled their anchor up and headed off back into the night.

“No watches tonight,” said Chan sounding tired. “We all need some sleep. We’ll stay here.” Hyunjin nodded and followed him to the cabin. Jisung was awake and looked exhausted, too tired to move from where he was lying limp on the bed. Changbin was sat on the bench in the window also looking exhausted and Minho looked stressed but alright where he was sitting next to Jisung running his fingers through the youngest’s hair.

“Sungie, how are you feeling?” asked Chan moving over and brushing his thumb along the younger’s cheek lightly.

“Tired, nausea,” said Jisung. His voice was hoarse and barely there, ruined from all the screaming. “And my throat hurts.”

“Can I fix it?” asked Hyunjin. Four pairs of eyes turned to him surprised and confused.

“Can you without making it worse?” asked Changbin, not sounding doubtful or accusing, just worried.

“Yes,” said Hyunjin nodding.

“Okay,” agreed Jisung. “I trust you, Jinnie.” Something warm that Hyunjin couldn’t identify bloomed in his chest and he moved over to the bed and reached for Jisung’s soul essence. Jisung’s magic reached back curious, and it didn’t spark back, it didn’t fight him. Instead it greeted him like an old friend, slotting against Hyunjin’s magic like a puzzle piece he hadn’t known he was missing. He took a deep breath and got to work. Sana was right. This was home. These were his brothers and he would fight for them. She was right about love being a powerful bond. For the first time in his life, Hyunjin had somewhere to belong.

**Author's Note:**

> um. there's more on the way, not sure how soon cause i had an idea for one of the other fic series i'm writing so i might update that instead 
> 
> *me naming the first fic in this series* the ship name is Levanter so all the titles will be lyrics from Levanter.  
> fun in theory. what i did not consider. every time i go to write one of these or update or anything i see the titles and get stuck there for a bit because my brain insists on singing as much of the song as i can remember. every. single. time. (mistakes may have been made)
> 
> anyway Seungmin is next! and will probably be relatively soon 
> 
> it's like 2AM here and i'm sleep deprived so if i forgot warnings pls pls pls let me know because i think i'm missing one but can't think of it (-_-) 
> 
> thanks for reading :) i love you all <3


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